FRONTLINE goes inside the showdown between U.S. President Donald Trump and the courts over presidential power.
President Donald Trump’s allies, opponents and experts talk about how he is testing the extent of his power, the legal pushback and the impact on the rule of law.
Continue reading Trump’s Power & the Rule of Law (full documentary) | FRONTLINEDo they work for us, or for themselves?
By: Bruce Rafnel
Publisher: Substack, Authentic Community
Clearly, humans are causing climate change.
But we have more problems than warming the planet. Even if we control the temperature by reducing our CO2 emissions, there are many other ecological problems caused by humans: deforestation, desertification, disruption of water cycles, plastic pollution, insect decline, fishery collapses, and fuel resource depletion. The list goes on and on. “It is no accident that the ruins of the world’s oldest civilizations are mostly in deserts now. It wasn’t desert before that.”
Our human institutions are unwilling (or unable) to address these problems with real solutions. We created these institutions—corporations and governments, most notably—but we seem unable to control them. They have morphed into alien entities that now control us.
The smallest effective human-powered unit is a community, not an individual. However, tight, effective communities have been hobbled. It is time to relearn how to build communities, and then to do the work of taking back our government. At the same time, large organizations can be reformed or broken up, with non-violent actions, to remind them that they exist for humans, not themselves.
A plan to harness grassroots energy—and to hold Democratic leaders accountable.
by Ezra Levin, Leah Greenberg
Indivisible founders, Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, wrote this inspiring article for The Nation. Reviewed by Rachael Maddow.
Continue reading How to Organize Our Way Out of the Trump-Musk Putsch
If there’s one universally accepted truth in the modern age, it’s that sequels suck. And Trump 2.0 will be no exception. Trump, Vance, and their MAGA minions feel vindicated by the victory of their bigoted, fascistic clown show of a presidential campaign. Trump takes office with a plan to institute the worst parts of Project 2025. He’ll be enabled by a judiciary packed with right-wing ideologues and a congressional majority stacked with MAGA foot soldiers. And he’s assembled a bloc of corporations and billionaires eager to do his bidding in exchange for tax cuts and corrupt favors. But he has no mandate for the staggeringly harmful agenda he’s about to unleash on the country. And together, we have the power to fight back — and win.
by Stephanie G. Wilson
Recommended by: Cindi
By: Martin Gutmann
Publisher: TEDxTalks, TEDxBerlin
Recommended by: Bruce R.
“The evidence is clear that boring management matters.“–Raffaella Sadun
Leader selection mistake: People often pick leaders because they make for a good “story.” Excellent leaders have boring stories because they have avoided the conflicts that make for a good story.
We see leadership potential in people who:
“since we reward people who are good in crises (and ignore people who are such good manager that there are very few crises), [people] soon learn to seek out (or reframe situations as) crises.”–Keith Grint
Notes on the State of America
by Heather Cox Richardson
Publisher: Penguin Random House
At a time when the very foundations of American democracy seem under threat, the lessons of the past offer a road map for navigating a moment of political crisis. In Democracy Awakening, acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson delves into the tumultuous journey of American democracy, tracing the roots of Donald Trump’s “authoritarian experiment” to the earliest days of the republic. She examines the historical forces that have led to the current political climate, showing how modern conservatism has preyed upon a disaffected population, weaponizing language and promoting false history to consolidate power.
With remarkable clarity and the same accessible voice that brings millions to her newsletter, Letters from an American, Richardson wrangles a chaotic news feed into a story that pivots effortlessly from the Founders to the abolitionists to Nixon to the January 6 insurrection. An essential read for anyone concerned about the state of America, Democracy Awakening is more than a history book; it’s a call to action. Richardson reminds us that democracy requires constant vigilance and participation from all of us, showing how we, as a nation, can take the lessons of the past to secure a more just and equitable future.
Heather Cox Richardson | Democracy Awakening
An American Fight Against Fascism
By Rachel Maddow
Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it. It was a sophisticated and shockingly well-funded campaign to undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens’ confidence in their elected leaders, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule.
Continue reading PrequelFascism is a cult of the leader, who promises national restoration in the face of supposed humiliation by immigrants, leftists, liberals, minorities, homosexuals, women, in the face of what the fascist leader says is a takeover of the country’s media, cultural institutions, schools by these forces.
Fascist movements typically, though not invariably, rest on an urban/rural divide. The cities are where there’s decadence, where the elites congregate, where there’s immigrants, and where there’s criminality.
Each of these individuals alone is not in and of itself fascist, but you have to worry when they’re all grouped together, seeing the other as less than. Those moments are the times when societies need to worry about fascism.
